I will Bloom
by Asuka-Hime Scar
Summary: This is a story about Sakura realizing her own weakness and deciding to do something about it. She will get stronger, but it's going to be a slow and painful process. It starts after the mission in Wave and will follow a long way. This story will explore small changes making bigger changes in the story. Rated M for upcoming violence.
1. Prologue

/So this is my new story, I am sorry for all the spelling mistakes in the story. Anyway, I don't own Naruto, only the OC's in the story.

Well, I hope you enjoy it./

 **Prologue**

You may have heard of me, you may not. I often prefer to stay in the shadow rather than the spotlight, but lately many people know me because of my dear pink hair. Anyway, my name is Sakura Haruno and this is my story and my road to greatness. So, for you to understand what I was before, we better go back to the academy days.

I was a know it all, book-smart girl and of course a big-time fangirl of Sasuke Uchiha, just like most girls in my class, but I was also a girl without a clan. I only cared about my looks, I didn't even care about my friends. I was useless and weak and had nothing to back me up except for my intelligence. We can jump forward to the day we graded (yes, I made it) and got sorted into our genin teams.

I was sorted into team 7 with Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, and this was my happiest day. After all, I was on the same team as my biggest crush, my true love (Still, can't believe I was so blind). Just thinking about it makes me shiver with annoyance. Of course, thinking back I know I never had a chance on Sasuke, he was to lost in himself and his revenge.

We all sat on the roof with our new teacher Kakashi-sensei introducing our self. I was giving Sasuke small looks here and there, full of love and pity. As for Naruto, well I either ignored him or gave him hateful looks just like everyone else.

That day was the start of everything. That day was the start on a rocky road towards the realization of how dumb I was, childish even, but I was just a kid. We never knew how dark the world really was and my naivety was the downfall of my old self and the birth of something new.

From that day and forward everything went in a kind of fast modus, but I know I was being a real pain in the ass and a bother to everyone on my team. I was the one how should be smart and all, but truth be told I was as stupid as I could be. I am sure even Ino was more of a help to her team than I ever was back then.

Luckily for me, I realized this bit by bit, but it all came to me after the mission to Waves. Even if it turned out to be a B-mission or was it A-ranked? Anyway, I was saved by both Naruto and Sasuke to many times to count on both my hands. This constant saving from my teammates made me realize the truth. I was useless to them, the only thing I had was my chakra control and all I could do with that was to walk on trees. Such a useful thing, right?

Slowly I started to see my mistakes, but you don't change overnight. It didn't take long after that for my eyes to open and see the world. When I first got them up I finally realized everything at once, like a big wave crashing on me. That night I cried myself to sleep of course, and the next days went in a blur again. I didn't really do anything, I was as usually just looming around and feeling sorry for myself.

But when Kakashi-sensei told us that we were to take the chūnin exam. At the very moment I heard it I felt like nothing, like a hinder for my teammates, but the lingering look I got from our sensei woke something else in me. It started the fire, my will of fire. And thus began my journey.


	2. Chappter 1 Cloth shopping

/So this is the first chapter of the story, I just want to say thank you for the reviews I got. And I hope you all will enjoy this chapter even thou if it is a bit slow.

I don't own Naruto or anything, just the oc's/

 **Ch. 1**

Sakura Haruno was looking at herself there she stood in front of the mirror. She smiled, then frowned, then sighed before chewing on her bottom lip. Kakashi-sensei had told them that he had some big news for them today, and she never liked big news. So Sakura had woken earlier than she usually did, not to fix her hair or dress up really nice. No, not anymore, she had gone for a jog. She only jogged for about 20 minutes or so before she was too tired to jog anymore. She panted as she had entered her own home. Her parents had already left for the day to work, so she was home alone until dinner time.

Once more she frowned at her reflection doubting that she really could change to someone useful, but just as she doubted herself she could hear her inner yelling at her. **_Channaro! Of course, we can change, we can never let Ino-pig win!_** And her inner was right, she had to change, to prove to everyone that she was better than just a weak link and a paper ninja.

First thing first, Sakura put her hair up and after a twirl, she turned to her red dress. She needed a new outfit because training in the dress was uncomfortable. Out loud the young girl said to her refection "a new me on the outside and the inside." With newfound hope, she jumped in the shower. After all, she had about three more hours until the meeting. After the shower, she dried her hair and started to braid it. Sakura's long hair was just in the way of everything. So with that in mind, the young girl ended up with two long braids hanging down her back. Not long after checking herself in the mirror she grabbed some money and was on her way.

She skipped breakfast walking out of the house and locking the place up. She skipped along the road towards the shopping district, not too far from her home. Luckily she didn't meet anyone on her way. And no sooner than five minutes later she stood in front of the ninja supply and cloth shop she barely had been in. A bit nervous she reached out for the door, but before she had the chance to open it she heard a voice sending shivers down her spine. "Well well, if it isn't forehead-girl".

Behind Sakura was the one person the Pinkett had avoided, or at least tried to avoid. The Pinkett closed her eyes before she draws a deep breath. "Ino-pig" she turned and came face to face with the blond girl. "I didn't know you would ever set your foot inside that shop, it is after all for ninjas and not some weak girl like you. A crybaby" the tone of Ino's voice was dripping with poison. The girl before Sakura held her head high and she held her body in a graceful way. Sakura felt a sting of jealousy towards her ex-best friend, but she knew better than to show that to Ino-pig. "Well," Sakura smiled sweetly to Ino. "I am a ninja so of course, I am here". Before Ino even had the chance to say anything more her team was walking towards them with their sensei. In a hurry Sakura took her chance and went inside of the shop, escaping those hateful blue eyes.

'Why is Ino so mean, I know we aren't friends anymore, but she doesn't have to be so mean' The rosett thought. **_Chaaa, she is just jealous of us_**. Sakura could hear her inner answer. The little bicker between Sakura and Ino was soon forgotten. Her emerald green eyes grew big as she saw all the different things in the shop. For the first time in forever, Sakura felt like she was doing something right. With a smile, the shopping began. Even though Sakura knew a lot about what she needed, she was at lost about how much and well she felt really lost. Luckily for Sakura, a chūnin girl with short brown hair and forest green eyes came over to Sakura.

"Oh, a cute little genin" she squealed with a big bright smile. If Sakura had known any better she would believe she meets Naruto's girl version in personality. Sakura couldn't help, but to blush at the girl's comment. _'Someone thinks I am cute! Channaro!_ ' Before Sakura could say anything more the girl was by her side. "Need some help there?" the girl question with so much happiness in her voice and sparkling eyes that the rosette almost had to blink. "I.." Sakura was uncertain if she really could ask this girl, it was embarrassing after all. "Oh, don't be shy!" the older girl encourages her or at least tried to. "Well... I kind of need a new outfit and some new gear, but I don't know" Sakura said carefully, hoping that the girl would help her. Before she knew what was happening the girl had taken her hand and started to run over to the clothing stands with fishnet and all. "Of course I will help you! We kunoichis have to look out for each other " and in a low voice Sakura could swear she heard the girl mutter _I am helping a genin, oh joy_ , but no sooner was the girl starting to throw all sort of tops and bottoms and really all types of cloth.

Sakura stood there blinking, she could not believe the speed and energy the girl had. It was amazing, and scary to watch. Sakura didn't know why, but she just expected the girl to trip or make something fall. Soon the girl stopped right in front of the shocked rosette with way too much cloth in her hand. "Okay, so..?" the girl now remembered that she hadn't gotten to know the Pinkett's name, nor had she introduced herself in the past ten minutes. "Oh right, sorry, my name is Mizuki, what about you?" Mizuki question Sakura. Sakura was still in shock from Mizuki-san's display of grace and speed. "I, my name is Sakura Haruno." she said after a few seconds. Mizuki the frown for barely a second before she shushed the poor confused and shocked girl to a changing room.

"Okay, try this, with this fishnet under and this one, oh and you need new shoes too, hold on a for a few seconds." The brunette said before disappearing in a flash. This gave Sakura a few seconds to collect herself and look at what she was going to try. In her hand were a sleeveless fishnet tank top and a deep blue belly top with long sleeves in a kimono style. As for the bottom was some black shorts reaching halfway down to the knees, on top of that she had thrown in a pair of fingerless gloves.

Before Sakura could think much more about what she had gotten for her Mizuki came back with a pair of high knee ninja boots. "Where do you find all this stuff, I have been here for at least 20 minutes before you came" Sakura blurted out before she blushed at her bluntness toward the stranger. "Oh, don't worry Sakura-chan, it takes some time to get used to the shop," the brunette said before shushing her in the changing room. The young genin had no other choice than to listen and changed into one of the many outfits the nice chūnin had gotten her.

When Sakura finally changed into the cloth she hesitantly got out from the change room. "So, I don't really know," the Pinkett said clearly uncomfortable with what she was wearing. The brunette nodded, "That top doesn't fit you" she said and true to her words it wasn't the perfect match for Sakura. Sakura was about to say she gave up, that she just wasn't suited for this, but the older girl just smiled at her with a warm smile. "I think those arms will get in the way of fighting, try this top, I think this one will be a bit better and still, you will manage to look stylish."

Sakura couldn't just tell the girl no, so she changed, and changed, and changed until she was on the verge of crying out in frustration. The brunette, on the other hand, was sparkling with joy. Sakura grumbled under her breath. "Okay, Sakura-chan, this is the look. I promise you! You will love this one!" "Last one, and if this one doesn't work, I will give up this thing!" Sakura mumbled to herself. She had been in the store for at least one hour, but her new friend? Could they be called friends, oh well, Sakura kind of hoped that?

True to Mizuki's promise Sakura fell in love with the outfit. It was in the colors of blue/green and black, the top was kind of in two pieces. The top part of the top was green/blue covering her collarbone and shoulders reaching down towards her breasts. Here the top went over in a black color leaving an open spot between the two parts in the front, and one in the back. From her breasts and down was blue fishnet and round her stomach, she had blue bandages keeping her half skirt up. Her half skirt was long in the back and short in front on her right side, it was longer on her left side. The color of the skirt was the same blue/green color and beneath that, she had a black short reaching halfway down towards her knees and fishnet stockings. On top of that, she had knee long black ninja boots. On her arms, she had gloves reaching above her elbows in black color.

Sakura couldn't help, but to smile at her own reflection. Now she looked a lot more like a ninja, and after a little twirl she came out to show Mizuki. The brunette smiled when she saw how happy the younger girl was. "Do you like it?" she questioned, already knowing the answer. Sakura was like an open book, easy to read. "I.. I love it!" Sakura said, and before she could think she hugged the chūnin who had helped her. "I, I am sorry!" Sakura said only a moment later bowing a bit. Mizuki on the other hand just laughed it off "Oh don't worry too much about it, you needed some gear too, right?" the girl asked tilting her head. Sakura nodded, never had she been so happy, not since Ino had helped her. Sakura shook her head trying not to think about that girl. "Yes, but really, you don't have to help me," the Pinkette said carefully, making sure she didn't sound ungrateful she hurriedly added on "Not that I didn't appreciate your help or anything" Sakura swallowed waiting for the girl to shrug or something and walk away, but the other girl didn't do that. No Mizuki shook her head, "of course I am going to help you!" she said, and Sakura couldn't protest. So she followed Mizuki like a little puppy around the store. Mizuki took the lead again and got Sakura everything she needed.

They got all the basic things and a bit more and too soon they were outside of the store again. Sakura had thrown her old dress away and gotten her new outfit in the blue color schemes, green and forest brown. "There Sakura-chan, now you have everything you need." Mizuki said, but before Sakura could thank here the girl disappeared in a poof of smoke. The Pinkett stood there blinking before she realized she had about 20 minutes to get to the training ground. Not that much time to stand there and think too much about her new friend, so she started to walk towards their own training ground. One step closer to her newfound goal, she had big hopes for this change.


	3. Chapter 2 - New friends

**Ch. 2**

Sakura was just in time for training because no sooner than she had greeted her teammates did their sensei appear. Kakashi looked lazily at his genin team and notice the Pinkett change of looks, he raised a brow and smirked unknown to his students. Just maybe his cute little genin girl would start to train? "Sorry I was late, I got lost on the road to life," the Jōnin said as an excuse. The Uchiha just raised a brow and "tch'ed", while Naruto and Sakura yelled/said "Lier!". Kakashi raised his hand before he grew a bit more serious.

"Anyway, I have some news I believe you all will like to hear," he said as his eyes lingered a bit longer on Sakura before he continued. "This may be sudden, but I nominated you guys for the chūnin selection examine," he said in a lazy voice. He handed out the applications to each one of his genii. "Wait for what!" Sakura said surprised that Kakashi-sensei had done this, but before the Pinkett could say anything more Naruto hug attacked Kakashi-sensei. Sprouting nonsense like "I love you" and all that.

Sakura stood there trying to pick herself together, maybe this was what she needed? Maybe she could prove herself and get some training in beforehand, some maybe, just maybe she could be useful to the team. "You have two weeks before the exam if you wish to train I will be reachable, but I want you all to rest today, dismissed" Kakashi's voice said startling Sakura out of her thoughts. She could feel a small smile appear on her mouth before it disappeared with the puff of smoke left behind by their sensei. "Ouch," Naruto said before he gains his unstoppable energy. "I won't lose to you teme" he said before his clear blue eyes turned over looking at Sakura. "Hey, Sakura-chan! Do you want to go and have some ramen as a celebration?" his tone was hopeful, but his eyes told Sakura that he was expecting a no. Before she regrets her decision, she said one word she rarely said to Naruto. «Yes, Sasuke-kun…would you like to join? » she questions shyly playing with her new outfit. Sasuke shook his head "No, I am going to train" he said before he walked away.

Sakura looked down in defeat before she swallowed and turned to Naruto, who was looking shocked and surprised. "You want to go to Ramen Ichiraku?" he questions looking a bit nervous even. Sakura nodded slowly and added a tiny smile. "Sure, and Naruto, oh never mind" before she went ahead of herself she started to walk fast. What was wrong with her? ** _You can use Naruto as a training partner! Is that a good idea? You can do this girl, chaaa!_**

Lost in her own tiny mindscape she didn't notice that Naruto was talking to her, not before he waved his hand right in front of her face. "Hey, Sakura-chan, you there?" he questions ready to poke her in the shoulder. Sakura shoots him a glare "What?!" she said in an irritated voice. The orange-clad of color's eyes flickered before he smiled a giant smile. "Maa maa Sakura-chan, don't be so mean" he teased, testing the water. Sakura sigh trying her best to keep her cool. "What did you say before Naruto?" she questions looking at the incoming stall. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to, I don't know, train together?" he said scratching the back of his head laughing nervously. "It's not that I think you need to train or anything, is just that it would be nice to train with someone, and work on the teamwork?" he tried to explain babbling on.

Sakura was surprised, more than surprised, she was shocked right to the core. She halted in her tracks, blinking at Naruto, an idiot. Her old self would have hit Naruto right in the head, but she closed her eyes. This was her chance, and even if Naruto was an airhead he was stronger then her. So maybe, just maybe she could learn something from him. "I need to think about it, how about I answer after we eat?" she said in a low voice, surprising herself. She couldn't ignore Naruto like she used to, nor could she be mean just because everyone else was mean and that Naruto was an idiot at all time. She could swear she even saw a tiny tear in Naruto's eyes "Believe it!" he said giving her a thumb up before running over to the stall grinning to the old man standing there making food. The Pinkett walked over in a daze.

Never had she ever believed she would be eating Ramen with Naruto, willingly. Somehow, she felt content with it, it felt like she finally was walking in the right direction. Soon they had consumed all the food the dared to eat and was chatting happily. Unknown to both, was a mysterious character watching them from afar. "Maybe the team isn't so lost" Sakura felt like someone was watching them, so her eyes swiped the surrounding. Her green eyes saw a lot of people casting hateful eyes towards them, mostly the civil. "Ne, Naruto, so I was thinking" the blond looked at her with his head tilted a bit toward her. "I was thinking about training" she said, pressing herself to continue before she lost all her courage. "I think, I would like to train with you" she said looking down at her hands. Before Naruto could cheer and all Sakura continued. "I need to become stronger so that I can help Sasuke-kun and you Naruto, I don't want to be useless anymore. So please help me grow stronger" She said, never once did she look up from her hands, she didn't dare to look at Naruto. Biting her bottom lip, she knew that Naruto would help her, but she was afraid of the tears that were trying to escape.

"Maa maa, Sakura-chan, of course, I will help you, but only if you help me too!" he said grinning a blinding optimistic smile. Her emerald eyes meet his, and a knot inside Sakura was untied. How come she had never seen Naruto as the person he was? The orange-clad was way too kind, and energic for his own best, maybe this blooming friendship wasn't so bad? She smiled "Thank you so much!" she squeaked even blushing a bit, embarrassed at her sudden burst of happiness.

She couldn't help her blooming smile before she turned serious. "So, we should make a training plan for the next week" she said thinking over what they could do in two weeks. "We won't just miraculous become super strong, but if we work hard, I believe we can achieve our goals" Sakura said slowly. Naruto, on the other hand, was a bit dazed by Sakura being nice to him, and she even said yes to train with him. "Believe it!" he said with a big smile "I know you can do it Sakura-chan" he said nodding grinning like an idiot. "Oh, and as a celebration, I will pay for the food" the boy added on at which Sakura almost choked on the glass of water. "Are you sure about that Naruto?" she questions slowly, a bit uncertain if she could accept the offer. "Yeah, don't worry dattebayo!" he said before turning to pay. Sakura rose from her chair looking a bit uncomfortable.

As Naruto turned towards Sakura, she bowed a bit and thanked him for the food. "Then, I will see you tomorrow at the training ground at 7 in the morning? I must run to the library to study up on what we need and should be able to learn as genin in two weeks" Sakura said with hope blooming up, making her truly believe she could become strong. Naruto frowned before he waved goodbye, the young blond skipped happily home. Sakura was just as happy and chipper as she went to the library to read, it was after all her strong point. She went inside deep in thought's, flashed her ID and walked right towards chakra control section to see what she could learn.

She was so consumed with all the books, scrolls and knowledge that before she knew it one of the people working there came over. "Hey kid, you sure read a lot, huh?" The older man said, probably around Kakashi-sensei age the young girl though. Sakura blinked and had to cough a bit from the dust that all the scrolls and books had collected. "well, I am preparing for the chūnin selection examine" she said in a low voice" The man raised a brow. As Sakura looked closer she notices the man was wearing sunglasses and his brown hair was just as messy as her sensei. Suddenly Sakura got a train of thoughts that all ninja at some point got a crazy hairstyle.

The man looked at the young girl, looking like a fresh out of the academy kid. He couldn't help but frown a tiny bit at this. "You learned something interesting girl?" he questions on. The girl had gotten his attention with her pink hair and crazy reading. Sakura could only nod, a bit scared and surprised with the sudden attention she got from a stranger. The man nodded approvingly. "You should get some survival books to kid" he said giving her a smile. "Oh, and you should also eat healthy kid". Sakura blinked once, then twice a bit dumbfounded. "Umh, sir, my name is Sakura, and thank you?" she said a bit questing in her tone. Never had anyone really taken an interest in her, unless it was of course to tease her or something. The sunglass man laughed a warm tiny laugh surprising Sakura even more "Well, Sakura-san my name is Aoba" he said with a nod before he looked at her scrolls again "Oh and one more thing, if you are good at chakra control you can do a lot of things, but I guess you already know that from your sensei?" he tilted his head, as to dare Sakura into telling him more about herself. Sakura couldn't help but smile a bit "It's nice to meet you Aoba-san" she said. She looked at her hands when he had finished speaking, somehow, she felt safe or at least she felt like she could trust him. This new Shinobi she just had met. "Well, not really," she said slowly, and it was true, she hadn't learned much from their sensei, but she blamed herself for that. After all, was it herself that had ignored training and most of her responsibility in favor of making Sasuke notice her. "But it's not Kakashi-sensei's fault, I haven't been very serious with this whole thing and all, but now I want to show them that I can be useful" She said with a fire in her eyes.

This fire and innocent didn't go unnoticed by the Jōnin, and he couldn't help but feel bad for the young girl. "Oh?" was his answer "Well, since you are so determent on learning things, I could help you, if your sensei is busy or anything" he said even giving the girl a smile. Sakura lit up like a candle, happy to receive all the help she could get. "But just so you know Sakura-san, I am not going easy on you if you end up saying yes, and you will have to train with all you got" he said very seriously. Aoba liked to help people, especially cute little Genin like this one. Sakura nodded eagerly at this "Of course Aoba-san but is it okay if I bring with me one from my team, I promised him that we would train together. He is kind of annoying, and I am not sure why, but a lot of people hate him, maybe because he is so loud? Anyway, he is a lot stronger than me but really dumb, so I really need some help to get something into his head, so he won't die" she said almost keeping her breath, the last part came out as a whisper. Aoba couldn't help but smile once again "Yeah sure, meet me at training ground 10 around 9 in the morning, and remember to eat a healthy breakfast" he said with a stern look before he rose from his seat. "But know I believe you should head home before your parents get worried" he said in a kind manner. Sakura jumped up and looked out, the sun was already setting she realized only after Aoba-san had mentioned it. "Oh, yeah, I better hurry home" She said bowing to her new-found trainer "thank you so much Aoba-san" she managed to say before she sprinted off, forgetting to put everything back where it belonged.

The man who was left behind just shook his head and started to clean up, noticing the presence of one particular silver-haired man approaching he felt shivers down his spine.


	4. Chapter 3 - Training

A.N: I know it's been a while, but I had a hard time figuring out this chapter. Hope you like it anyway! I have school, so it will take some time between each chapter, but I will try my best to at least have one ready each month. Hopefully more.

Novrier Thank you so much for the constructive reviews. Hope this chapter is better!

: Yeah, tried to make this fanfic a bit different. Oh, and trust me. Kakashi will get an earful a bit later, not much in this chapter, but he will. I promise you.

Enjoy!

p.s, please review as they really help on my motivation and thank you for the fav, following the story and the reviews.

 **Ch. 3**

Sakura woke up and rolled out of bed, to say that she was sleepy was an understatement. She was almost like a zombie rising up to seize the day. She slept walked over to the shower to get some sleep out of her eyes. Truth be told, she wasn't used to waking up five in the morning.

Cursing at herself for staying up late she dragged her feet back into her room. As she opens her closet, she almost shrieked and panicked a bit. The closet was empty except for her civil cloth. She started to look frantically around for some cloth to train in, soon enough she finds a shopping bag and yesterday comes back to her as she pushed away the urge to hit herself.

Sighing she takes out one of the new ninja cloths set she brought and puts it on. She smiles to herself in the mirror as she starts to braid her hair to make sure it didn't get in the way of her training. Her excitement shone brightly through a smile, she even hummed as she made her way down to the kitchen. She took what Aboa-san had said to heart, so she ate a healthy breakfast for the first time in forever. She had never felt so good in her life.

For once in her life, she herself had made a choice. Sakura had taken control of her life deciding to become a useful part of the team. She wasn't just a follower, no she would become a leader deciding her own fate. "I know I can do it" the young girl said to herself as she packed up and went for a jog.

Her breath was quick as she reached the training ground, no one was to be found there yet. Her emerald eyes looked up at the skies as she laid down to relax a bit after her tiny little jog, to be precise 30 minutes. Soon the girl drifted off to something like a middle stage between sleep and being awake. This peace was short lived as a loudmouth of a blond came running at full speed towards her.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" he yelled happily, even the birds flew away. _Oh, Kami, take me away from here_ Sakura wished before she opened her eyes ready to hit his teammate. The Pinkett had to clench her fist hard to stop herself from the act of harming her annoying friend (she wasn't sure if he was a friend yet, but at least it felt like that).

"Could you please, like not yell Naruto?" she asked in an annoyed voice. She could not help, but to feel irritated. He had disturbed her peacefulness, how troublesome. As the thought manifested, she chased it out, never in her life would she sound like Nara. Lost in her own mind again Naruto had the nerve to poke he chin trying to make contact with her.

Sakura lost control of her temper and ends up hitting him in the head. "What?!" she asked looking at him intensely. He blinked before he took his hand trying to ease the pain with it. "You spaced out again Sakura-chan" he said rubbing his head. "Oh, sorry" was all he got before she rose up.

"Well anyway, I think it's time to meet up with someone right now" she said shaking off the feeling of guilt. Naruto, on the other hand, had forgotten all about the pain now. "Oh? Who are we meeting? Is it Kakashi-sensei? Or Teme? Or someone awesome?" he rambled on already excited. The boy jumped up and down, smiling with a bright smile blinding Sakura. "Calm down, it's a surprise Naruto" she said with a wicked smile.

Turning on her heel she walked slowly towards the training ground the two genins where suppose to meet up with Aboa-san. Naruto didn't protest at all and was soon walking side by side with his female teammate. A blush came across his face as he realized he was alone with his crush. Best of all was that it didn't seem like Sakura hated him anymore, she was going to train with him and maybe he got a shot at her?

Sakura, on the other hand, was thinking about training wondering what the older man would make them do. Suddenly the Pinkett sneezed feeling like someone was badmouthing her. "Are you okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked quickly which made Sakura smile and nod. "Yeah, don't worry Naruto" she said patting his shoulder.

The rest of the walk went with small talking as Naruto tried to make Sakura tells him who they were meeting. Her eyes sparkled, but she stood her ground and told him nothing.

It took them around ten minutes to walk over to training ground 10 from their slow pace. As they arrived the clock ticked in at 07.45 and Aboa would not meet up here before 09.00, that meant that Sakura and Naruto had some time on their own.

Sakura had already calculated this into the plan of training. "Okay Naruto, we got some time to train a bit on our own" she announced as they entered the open field surrendered by forest. "I thought that we could train up in the trees?" her voice was a bit questing tone. Naruto just nodded smiling encouragingly "So I was reading and well, we need some survival skills, so we need to jump from tree to tree right? As I was reading I learned that you can jump pretty long and silent if you use chakra, kind of like when we were tree walking, but now we have to use the chakra to push ourselves ahead." She tried to explain to Naruto, but all she got in return was a dumbfounded look in his eyes.

"I didn't really get that" he said scratching his head "but if you think we can do this then I believe you" he said nodding. Sakura let a small smile through as she looks at the trees, she only knew it in theory, so it would be harder than just walking. It wasn't that hard to boost the jump, but the hard part was in landing gracefully. She was frowning quite a bit, trying to think about all possible ways to do it. Once again Naruto snapped her out of the train of thoughts running amok in her head. "Maa maa, Sakura-chan, let's try it" he says dragging his friend over to a tree before he starts to climb it.

Sakura follows suit with ease and soon she stood beside Naruto, first named fickle a bit nervously with her long gloves. "So, mind if I go first" Sakura question, trying to push away the uneasy feeling. Naruto nodded "Of course Sakura-chan". His voice was very enthusiastic giving his teammate a thumb up. Sakura nodded back before concentrating her chakra to her feet. She pushed and jumped, taking a leap of faith. She truly wanted to nail this on the first try, but no, that was not going to happen of course.

Before the girl knew any of it she was falling down, towards the ground. She braced herself for the impact doing her best to make sure she would land on her feet. Luckily, she did land on her feet with Naruto screaming her name, but the impact made her stumble and fall face first in the dirt. She raised a hand to say she was ok, before turning to lay on her back. "Your turn Naruto!" she yelled after a few more seconds. She herself gets up and starts to walk over to the tree again.

Naruto nodded a bit surprised, the Sakura he knew would have drawn the line, afraid that she would get hurt or dirty and Sasuke would think less of her. Naruto at that point found himself respecting Sakura a bit more. He got so surprised at all this that when Sakura told him to jump he did so without a chakra boost at all. The blond had a tad more luck and landed in a bush with a softer landing.

Sakura had watched it all happen and laughed a bit, trying to keep it in. So, she snorted, pretty unfeminine. _Thank Kami that Sasuke-kun isn't here!_ She thought to herself **_Damn right girl, what would he think if he heard that!_** Her inner answered. The genin just shook her head before she started to brace herself for another jump. This time she got a bit closer to the next branch, almost touching it if she had reached out her hand a bit further. If only she could adjust her chakra to the perfect amount, but it was harder then she first would have thought it to be.

The two genins continued to jump, making friendly commenting here and there trying to help each other and they helped one another as best as they could. Just before the clock hits 09.00 Sakura finely made the jump and landed gracefully, or as best as she could at least. From the clearing, they could hear a clapping sound and both Naruto and Sakura looked at the man who stood there.

He didn't look very different from the day before, with his messy brown hair, black sunglasses, and his jōnin attire. Sakura walked down from the tree and saw another person, the next one surprised her. She had never in her life thought that Kakashi would willingly come this early in the morning.

The silver-haired ninja stood there giving them is a lazy salute, but if you looked really closely you could almost see the older man have a surprised look in his eyes. Kakashi didn't expect Sakura to look so dirty, but mostly he was surprised to see the fire in her eyes. He knew that sooner or later she would probably either start working on her ninja way or give up. Truth be told the silver-haired ninja expected the last statement. He never really believed the Pinkett was going to be a ninja, and when she saw someone get badly hurt or worse die, she would do like her parents and become merchants or something like that. The jōnin sensei was shocked to the core, but kind of happy really, even if he didn't know what to do with the girl. This is where Aboa came in, a perfect match for the time being. Aboa was a person who could handle almost every situation if you think about fighting at least, he wasn't that calm in other, but we all have our flaws.

"Yo guys, having fun?" Kakashi-sensei asked them as he opened his orange book. Naruto was the first one to speak out "What the?! Why are you here? Sakura-chan you didn't tell me Kakashi-sensei was coming!" he spoke loud and fast, pointing fingers everywhere. "And who is the creepy guy with sunglasses on, ne ne Sakura?" Naruto added on.

Sakura could barely think straight as she herself felt how bad the tension was between them, even if both the Jōnin tried to hide it. Her first reflex was to hit Naruto in the head "Stop and think for a moment will you" she said as a vein popped up.

She drew her breath deep to clam herself trying to think a bit. "Yeah Sensei, we are, why are you here? And hello Aboa-san thank you for coming" she said giving both of the older man a small smile.

"Oh, I just happen to pass by Sakura-chan and then I saw you two and I meet him on his way over to you. As your sensei, I wanted to see what you two where up to~" Kakashi answered first. Everyone except for Naruto knew that Kakashi lied, it was way too obvious with the cheerful voice he used. Sakura sweat dropped Naruto looked confused and Aboa just shrugged hiding an irritated look in his eyes.

"Maa maa, Kakashi, I think you have an Uchiha to reach" Aboa said as Sakura smiled sweetly to her old sensei "Yeah, you really need to help Sasuke-kun, that's why I asked Aboa to help with training. After all Sensei, you have the sharingan, so only you can help Sasuke-kun to train it" she said in a matter of fact voice, but truth be told it was Sakura who felt like she didn't deserve Kakashi's teaching. The young girl felt nervous around him, she trusted him with her life, but she knew that no one could trust her like that right now.

Kakashi raised a brow, a bit disappointed, but at the same time, a bit reviled. The man truly didn't know what he would do if the girl had said anything else. So, he nodded "I am guessing that you have gotten a sensei to help you then?" As he got a nod his eyes sadden before he puffed away.

Sakura let out her breath she didn't know she had been holding in. "So, shall we train?" Aboa question trying to give them both an encouraging smile. Naruto forgot all the tension and nodded grinning. "Can we learn a super cool jutsu, like something that I can go on with a BOOM and a BANG and then POFF and I win?" he said with sparkling blue eyes. This made the other two sweet drop before taking the grip back.

"Ehm, no, we have to train the basic, but first I will put you through a series of tests beforehand. I need to decide where you are on different levels" he said giving them a tiny smile. He tried his best to sound sure of himself and relaxed, which he mostly succeeds at if you missed the point where he scratched his chin. "Anyway, I can see that both of you have gotten the basic tree walking in, and Sakura-san amazing work with the chakra leap, oh and N-you…" he suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence. Once again, he scratched his chin looking a bit awkward.

"What is it Aboa-sensei?" Sakura question, not realizing that neither Naruto nor Aboa-sensei knew each other. You see the young girl was beaming with pride, after all, she had been praised the first day of training.

"I believe I have forgotten to introduce myself to you boy, and I don't know your name either" Aboa asked, he already knew the name, really, but he didn't want to start that way. "I am Aboa, oh and Sakura, Aboa-san will be fine, really for both of you. It feels weird being called sensei. Makes me feel old" he said with a hint of humor. Sakura nodded, but Naruto went with his usual loudmouth introduction. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, believe it! I am going to be a Hokage someday Dattebayo! But why are you wearing glasses?" The blonde's voice was serious and overly cheerful. Sakura just shook her head, a bit too used to Naruto boosting around and asking a weird question. Sakura winced a bit at the last part. "Show some respect Naruto" she said as a hiss, how dumb can he be? A one-year-old is probably smarter than him. Her inner snickered back at her making Sakura snort as she tried to hold in her laughter.

"What? It is weird to walk around in glasses!" Naruto resorted a bit confused by Sakura snorting, another unusual thing for her to do. In Naruto's head Sakura had turned over a leaf, and he somehow didn't know what to think, but he liked that she was a lot less mean to him even going as far as to eat with him and speak with him. His first steps towards acknowledgment and becoming a Hokage. "Nha, don't worry about it Sakura-san, Naruto-san is just envying my awesomeness" The Jōnin resorted to. To say that Sakura was speechless with this friendliness for Aboa-san was an understatement, she was shocked at how nice he was to them.

Naruto, on the other hand, was fell right into the trap "What, no way!" he said or rather yelled at Aboa. Aboa just hummed, but other wised ignored the small bickering. "I was thinking that we would have started easy, like tree walking and shuriken/kunai throwing, but I guess I should throw you into the water for water walking instead of tree walking" he said nodding to himself, stratified with this simple task.

Sakura nodded too, but Naruto frowned about to open his mouth to complain about how uncool and boring that would be. Sakura used her elbow driving it on the side of Naruto, not hard but enough to make him look at her as she shook her head. "What will we start with Aboa-san?" Sakura asked, she already knew the answer or was at least almost 100% certain. Aboa confirmed her belief "We are to start with a throwing game, I am going to make some crows and your goal is to hit as many as you can" he said looking at them both "ready, set go!" his hand went Rat - Boar - Tiger before neither Naruto nor Sakura had a chance to rethink it all.

With a puff of smoke, the crows appeared, maybe around 15 of them in total Sakura was the first one to try and shoot one of them. She missed the one she was aiming at, but she hit another one half a meter away, with pure luck. Naruto didn't wait for an invitation either, but he was no better off than Sakura. The blond missed the one he was aiming for, but he was closer than Sakura. The Pinkett bites her bottom lip, feeling a bit sad that she couldn't hit the one she was aiming for, but she wouldn't give up yet.

So, she took out another kunai and aimed again, trying her best to remember what she had learned in the academy as well as she cursed herself for never training. This time she was a tiny bit closer to hitting her target, but still pretty far off. Sakura could feel the heat in her chins out of embarrassment, but still, she had to continue. The young kunoichi had to get stronger, so she could help Sasuke-kun and be a part of the team she was on.

Snapping out of the little bubble she tried again and again and again. She really tried her best to hit the target, but those stupid crows kept flying around and were impossible to hit. Clenching her fist, she tried one more time and instead of a crow she almost hit Aboa-san who had studied them all this time. Ducked and scolded a bit before he dismissed the crows looking at the skies he knew that the time was around noon.

"I believe that is enough throwing for both of you" he said looking neither looking disappointed nor surprised, he looked rather neutral. "Naruto, your aim is pretty decent, but you need to think more, not just throw as many as you can. Even if you hit the target, one precise hit is deadlier than a few scratches" He turns to look at Sakura. She felt small under his gaze, but she was proud of Naruto even if she never would admit it. "Sakura your aim is in pretty poor shape, but I can see that you have a good eye. If you learn where to hit and how to cooperate your mind and body as one." He had to take a small pause looking straight into her eyes "You will become one of the best kunoichis. You need to train hard and believe in yourself if you would want to reach that goal, but I believe that you can do it" He finished giving them both a smile. "Both of you did good in your own way"

Sakura couldn't help but smile proudly, even giving Naruto a thumb up. Naruto, on the other hand, was cheering "Yey, see Sakura-chan! We are much better than Teme, that idiot!" he himself couldn't help, but glow up. Sakura looked away, she wondered what Sasuke-kun would think of her, would he even think about her? She feels a sting in her chest but at the same time a burst of motivation. **_We can win over Sasuke-kun before Ino-pig or any other girl do it_** inner cheered. Sakura nodded to herself, she could do it. After all, she was going to help Sasuke-kun with *squick* even thinking about it made her blush.

Naruto and Aboa who was looking at Sakura were both confused. Sakura was totally lost, unaware of those around her. "Sakura-chan/san" both Aboa and Naruto said a few times before she answered them with a simple yes and a confused look. Naruto just shook his head and Aboa was thinking about what could make her soon out like that, acting all girly with giggles.

"What's next Aboa-san?" Sakura asked when it seemed that both males quiet down. Unknown to her she had zoomed out, giggling and blushing a bit too much as she was thinking about Sasuke-kun. "Oh, yeah right," Aboa-san said nodding. "It's lunchtime, and after that, we shall continue on with aiming lessons. I will make sure you can survive the exams coming up." He said with a smile humming to himself. "Ready to eat something healthy?" he said jokingly before starting to walk. Naruto gave a confused look to Sakura, which she returned with a shrug before walking after Aboa-san. Right now Sakura couldn't feel any more happiness, everything was almost perfect.


	5. Chapter 4 - Day 2 of traning

-I am so sorry for the late update, but here it is. Hope you all who read this story like this story, and please tell me if there is anything you would like to see! Also Thank you all for reading, fav and follows on the story. Without future ado, here is the story.

-I don't own Naruto or anything, only my OC.

 **Ch. 4**

Sakura was really content after training, she had finally felt like there was something she could do. Aoba-san had given her three books and one scroll all useful and all giving her an insight into how to hit the target right. There was one book that was a bit different from the rest, and that was the bingo book. He had told her and Naruto that a bingo book was something they should read, in his eyes it was important to know when to run and when to engage an enemy. Even if he had told them that it wasn't so important to read it at the moment. He did recommend them to look through the book from time to time when they could, so they got to know the world better. The other two books were both medical books written about the body rather than healing all in all. The first book dived into the chakra system in a very detailed way. Explained every little detail one could think about having Sakura hooked and sucking up all the knowledge she could. The other book was about a different way to take out your enemy all from lethal too non-lethal. The last thing Aoba had made Sakura read on was herbs and plants that grew all around the Fire country. The reason he had her reading about herbs and plants was obvious, she needed to know what she could eat and what would be poisonous.

The reason Sakura had all the books was another obvious thing, she was a swamp to knowledge. The girl read a lot in her free time when she wasn't out looking for Sasuke-kun. Sakura couldn't help but frown a bit, she hadn't seen him since Kakashi-sensei had announced that they were recommended for the Chūnin examine. The Pinkett looked out her window wondering if he was still training or maybe he too was reading on something. She shook her head, she didn't have the time right now as she had to study hard.

Her mind wondered a bit again as she was looking at the bingo book on her bed. Training after lunch had been fun, they had learned a lot of new technique and she felt like she finally was on the right track. Frowning once again she realized her problem was her love for Sasuke-kun, but what could she do about it? Maybe it would just work out after she gets stronger. She nods to herself, yes, _if I get stronger maybe everything will just fit, and all will be perfect!_ With this thought dwelling in her mind, she turned off the light and went to sleep.

The next day she woke up early, made breakfast, went out for a jog, showered before reading some more. When the clock was eight she stretched a bit before jumping up from her place on the couch. "I am going to train now!" she yelled before walking out the door. "Take care Sakura!" she could hear her mother yell back.

As she entered the training ground Aoba-san was there already, but the blond had yet to come. Sakura had to hide a tiny smile blooming on her face. She wasn't used to a teacher who showed up on time, she wasn't used to this excitement filling her whole body, and most of all she wasn't used to feeling like she really could do something useful and learn something important.

"Good morning Aoba-san" she chippered cheerfully earning a raised brow from the man "Good morning Sakura-san" he answered giving her a tiny smile. "How was the reading, did you get some sleep?" he questioned her, maybe even teased her. Sakura did her best to suppress a blush growing, as she nodded "It was very interesting, and yeah I got some sleep". Before they could say much more both heard Naruto yelling out his hello and could see the blond running with all his might as if the devil was on his tail. The boy looked up as he was huffing and panting, but he had a big grin on his face. "I made it, didn't I?" his question earning him a frown from Sakura and an amused look from Aoba.

"Yeah, you did Naruto, even having a minute to spare" Their new Sensei said. Sakura was shaking her head now "Naruto, why did you run like that?" she had to question him, but soon she regrets even asking. "Ahhh well you see Sakura-chan.." he began sheepishly, even scratching the back of his head. "I tried to wake up early and well eat and all, but on the way to the shop there was this old lady how needed help, so I tried to help her on my way here, but I was already late and all. She frowned at me and started to chase me around, accusing me of stealing…" his voice faded away only for a moment before grinning again like normal "so I had to run away from the old lady" Sakura was shocked at hearing this, of course, the young girl knew that many people didn't like Naruto, but she truly believed the reason came from all his pranking. She blinked once, then twice, before she even knew the meaning behind his words. She had to bite her bottom lip thinking, trying to come up with something to say to the boy. Her savior and new Sensei came in with a few words "Well nothing you can do, but train and work hard to make them see your true nature" Aoba said as it was the simplest thing in the world. "But back to training kids, we don't have all the time in the world to get you guys ready or at least a bit prepared for the exam" he hummed at the excited look in both of them.

"We will advance on, but at the same time keep raising your aim. Today we will start with the water walking, but before that, I am going to test you on what I made you both read" he smirked. Naruto, on the other hand, wanted to protest to this, but Sakura just wanted to get ahead with training, so she drove her elbow in the side of him. This made Naruto look at Sakura, but he was smart enough not to keep quiet.

"Well, Sakura as you read a bit about herbs, what is important to know, when you have two very similar plants in front of you and one of them is poisonous?" he asked the young girl. She smiled confidently "Well, first you need to know what you are working with, like what plant, what family and what use the each have. When you have established that, you need to know what makes them different, there is always a tiny difference, so you must be 100% sure before you do anything with either of them. A dog is also known for its keen nose, so you can have a dog trained up to sniff out the poisonous one" she answered with her head held high, she was after all known to be a 'know it all'. "Correct Sakura, good job, I don't think I have anything else to add on. Other than to use a book if uncertain and if that doesn't help then don't use it".

Aoba looked at Naruto with a tiny frown, thinking about what he could ask the boy. "Naruto, what did we learn yesterday? And what did you learn?" he questioned, knowing very well that the boy had a lot of potentials, but too much energy to use it constructively. "Oh, oh, I know that! We were tested in our skills and we learned that, um, not to throw a lot and that it's better to have a good aim!" he smiled brightly, but he was a bit uncertain of himself. "Good Naruto, I am glad that you are learning. I believe that both of you have learned and we can continue our training" He said praising them both because he knew that they would need motivation for the training they would do today. "So, we are going to start with where we left it yesterday, we started with walking on still water, but today we will go over to moving water and evading" he had a smirk on his face, and if they could see his eyes behind the sunglass both genin would have noticed the glim. "The reason we are doing this is?" Aoba added the question, so both knew and understood the training. Sakura stretched her hand high up in the air, she knew the answer of course. Naruto knew it too, but he didn't want to say anything wrong, afraid that either Sakura or Aoba would be disappointed in him.

"Naruto, are you uncertain or did the cat get your tongue?" The older man's eyes were looking or rather study the younger boy. "I… Well…" Naruto stumbled with his word, but a smile from Sakura and a nod from Aoba made him relax. "You need to know how to walk on water to be an awesome ninja, right? And evading is to look and be strong, so you don't get hit, Dattebayo!" he exclaimed at the end with his energy back on top as he felt no negativity from either of them. The blond one turned to Sakura and gave her something that could remind one of Guy's awesome pose with a grin and a thumb up. "Yeah.." Aoba had to collect himself a bit before just shaking his head "…more or less, anyway I think we should start with the training" He smiled to them, sending shivers down the Genin's spine. Even if Aoba was a kind and good teacher he had a knack for driving people to their limits and beyond that. With a gulp, they started with a bit of warm-up before getting unto water walking.

Way past noon Sakura and Naruto were soaking wet, they had been switching from aiming practice with different weapons to walking on the water walking. The weapon range went from everything that could be used as a throwing weapon and under this Sakura had found out that she liked the thought of using senbon needles, she had a hard time with it, but she understood that they were harder to detect and they could be faster. Of course, the needles weren't as deadly without a precise aim, but Aoba had told the Pinkett that if she trained hard and worked with her aim she could be as deadly as anyone. Naruto, on the other hand, was having a harder time, not with the aim precisely, oh no, he had a problem with focusing on the task, his energy and that basic training wasn't something he liked much. Naruto went as far as to where Aoba had to adjust the training just for Naruto, making the boy run around aiming at crows and mark on the trees. It was a bit funny to watch Naruto jump around trying to hit, and he did hit things, every now and then. With Sakura's analytical mind she could see the difference in both her own skill and Naruto's skills, just after one and a half day of the training. She herself had learned a lot about the basic thing, and how important it is to have that down and she started to understand what she lacked as a ninja. Sakura was starting to see a lot of faults in herself, but she was also starting to hope and believe that she could change for the better.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, can you tell me how you are able to stand on the water" plead a wet and shivering Naruto. Her emerald green eyes went over to him as she tried to multitask, keep her chakra steady and not fall face first into the water. "Well, water isn't stable, so you have to keep a steady stream of chakra, sort of, to your feet. When the water moves you adjust the chakra at your feet" she stopped a bit when she felt I tiny wave, as she regained her balance once again her eyes went to Naruto. The boy looked like a question mark and his big blue eyes looked from her feet to her face then to the water. "But How Sakura-chan?" he questioned her, he was trying hard to understand this. A frown formed on the girl's face, how could she explain it really simple for Naruto. However, all this thinking wasn't a smart move, not long after Naruto had questioned her once again both Naruto and their sensei could hear a shriek and a plop.

Naruto gulped as Sakura resurfaced and started to swim towards the shore. The boy was sure he would get an earful for distracting his teammate when she was concentrating. This was, luckily, not the case as soon as Sakura had pulled herself onto land she laid on her back and started to laugh. At first, it came as a few chuckles she clearly tried to resist, but the odds where against her, so she laughed. This made Naruto really uncertain of himself, was Sakura broke or something? Aoba just blinked and was a bit uncertain himself, maybe he had pushed her too far? He shook his head, that couldn't be the case, right? "S-Sakura-chan are you alright?" Naruto had to ask her afraid that something was wrong with her, but when she looked at him Naruto felt his heart skip a beat. Her long hair hung in the braid, but some had escaped, this made her look more like a true kunoichi. Her eyes were what really made him feel a blush creep up, they sparkled in a beautiful green. Truly the Sakura he knew was gone and replaced with someone new and someone he could maybe even call a friend. Sakura's voice snapped him out "Oh... Yeah" she had to take a deep breath to calm herself, she didn't know why, but when she had seen the look on Naruto's face she lost it. "I just, well your face was so funny Naruto when I fell into the water" She told him as she calmed herself down. "Sorry about that" she even added, after all, Sakura didn't want Naruto to feel like she was making fun of him. "Oh, then that's good!" His voice was almost like sunshine. "I am glad that I could make you laugh" The blond said, always trying to look on the bright side.

Sakura smiled at the idiot, but she felt happy that Naruto hadn't misunderstood her or reacted in a negative way. "Oh, but I think I know a way to make you understand!" she suddenly remembered as she turned serious. "So, when you have gel or something that has a really unstable surface, but it's still a surface you can touch without sinking into it" she took a break to see if Naruto was following her words, and he was. Naruto gave her a nod, hinting to Sakura that she could continue on. Aoba couldn't help but let a smile bloom. The man had of course done some research on both of them, he even had a talk with Kakashi (The jōnin understood why Sakura had started to study on her own, the copy-nin was pretty much helpless as a teacher). Shaking his head, he focused back on his students. Both of them was said to be a few hopeless cases, but he knew better. The kids just needed some help and motivation, this was where he came in and this was where he could finally help someone.


	6. Chapter 5 - Team training?

/Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I love reading the reviews, so please continue to review and give me feedback. Oh, and I was wondering, what do you guys want to see in the story or hope to happen?/

 **Ch. 5**

The next days went by and the exam was getting closer making Sakura nervous. Two days and a week prior to the exam Kakashi had shown up out of nowhere with Sasuke following behind, walking. They had shown up when Naruto and Sakura were sparing in taijutsu. The sight alone made Sasuke surprised, and his usually stoic face was now broken into the surprised look. Kakashi, on the other hand, remained mostly the same, but if you knew him you could see that the display had spiked his interest.

Aoba had a smug smirk on his face as he looked over at the remaining team seven. "So, what brings you here Kakashi?" Aoba questions him, the tone was a bit irritated. Naruto and Sakura had yet to notice the new arrivals, as they both were having a lot of fun. "I am checking on my team and thought that maybe we could have some team training…" Kakashi trailed off as he studied his students. Never had he thought he would see Sakura train like this, and never would he think that Naruto would think a bit when he fought. The changes this other man had made were grand and Kakashi truly had to give him credit for what he had done. Sakura was agiler and moving with smoother movements, she was doing better than Kakashi ever had hoped for the girl. Naruto, on the other hand, was matching Sakura, only he was holding back laying himself just a bit more over Sakura's ability. It was like watching a true team fight and this made him feel a sting of guilt for overlooking Sakura, even Naruto to a degree.

"Well I would have appreciated it if you had talked to me before coming, as you can see, we are in the middle of training" Aoba resorted to, even frowning. He knew that team training would be needed, but the man had hoped that Kakashi would at least talk with him beforehand. "Maa Maa, sorry about that, been busy with Sasuke and training and I was on my way yesterday but got lost on the road to life," The silver-haired man told him with a lame and lazy excuse. This made Aoba even more irritated, maybe even a bit angry. "Oh, so your students aren't worth your time, no wonder the team was so broken when I started with those two?" his voice was raised to the extent that Naruto and Sakura had glanced over to them. Both looked surprised at the new arrivals as they stopped fighting. Before Kakashi could answer Sakura and Naruto were over standing beside Aoba. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun" Sakura's voice broke the tension building up. "How is training going for you two?" she questioned, to make Aoba and Kakashi stops glaring at each other and because she was curious.

"Oh, it's going good Sakura" Kakashi blinked as he took a once over her. She was starting to get muscles and the way the dirt was on the young girl's cloth told him that she truly was trying. "I was thinking that we could have some team training if it's ok for you two?" Kakashi question Sakura and Naruto, feeling the glare from Aoba, Kakashi even gave his cute little Genin an eye smile just to tease the man a bit more. Sasuke was watching it all, but he didn't understand why they even had to work as a team. He himself could carry the team on his own, but it did help his goal of becoming stronger if his team was strong. Sakura let her eyes trail onto Sasuke before she looked at her sensei, maybe she wasn't that useless anymore? Maybe she could help her team now, at least that is what Aoba tells her and she should believe him, right? Slowly she nodded, and as soon as she gave her approval Naruto jumped aboard "Of course! I can show off my awesome skill!" he said giving them all a big grin, making Sakura relax from where she stood. Naruto was in his own way a safe place for Sakura, even if she never would admit it out loud.

"I have an idea if you want to have some team training with those two" Aoba butted in, as all the attention went to him he continued with his little idea. "I am guessing all of you are aware of why you are in a three-man cell?" He didn't wait for them, but they all nodded anyway. "It's because here in Konohagakure we value teamwork rather high and it's seen as something important to everyone, no matter the rank" His voice was in a very teacher like the tone and this made Sakura and Naruto smile. "I suggest that you three..." he pointed at the genin "Fight us two, your goal would be to land 15 successful hits on us. That means evenly five hits for each of you." He pointed at himself and Kakashi. When the man saw a familiar frown appear on Sakura's face he added hurriedly, before she could vocalize her worries for being outmatched. "I and Kakashi will, of course, have some handicaps, so it will be possible for you three to win If you work together" "We have handicaps?" "Yes, we have" Kakashi couldn't disagree with the man, and Aoba was clearly making sure that there was no room for arguing about it.

"First handicap or rather advantage for you guys is that you get some minutes to start ahead and make a plan. When time goes on we get more handicaps. After 20 minutes we can only use one hand, after an hour we can only use taijutsu. After one more hour our range of fighting and just where we can go get cut down to this opening. If you still have problems with taking us on we get the handicap of one of us being 'blind'" As Aoba was done talking Sakura nodded slowly, Naruto was smiling a confident and happy smile and Sasuke looked relaxed, thinking that this would be easy. Kakashi had taken his hand into his pockets and was looking as lazy as ever, he gave a shrug to confirm that he was fine with it "Oh and to win, each of you have to get five clear hits on either of us" The old man smirked as Sakura paled, Naruto grinned and Sasuke frowned. "All clear?" Everyone nodded, some more than others. "Okay, ready set, go!"

This time around team seven went into hiding together, even Sasuke had followed them. He took charge right away, determine that he was the most capable ninja out of the three. "So, I think we should get a bit further away. Kakashi-sensei has the sharingan after all and I don't know how strong Aoba is, but a distance is necessary" His tone was final and as he turned on his heel not even bothering looking at either of them. Naruto, of course, wanted to protest, but Sakura laid a hand on the boy's shoulder shaking her head. Sasuke-kun was still the strongest out of them, and they needed to work together as a team.

They went on for a few minutes, into the forest before stopping, still on the ground. Sakura took a quick look at the area, judging the pros and cons of the place. Naruto was already walking around looking for hiding places and different escape routes. "I believe we have about five minutes before they start to go after us." Sakura says in a 'matter-of-fact' voice looking at both boys thinking hard. "We need to come up with a base plan, and quickly evaluate what we can do. I can start, right now I can leap between trees with chakra, same for Naruto, we can both tree walk of course, but also water walk. I can come up with fight plans and hide my chakra at an average level. I am getting better at fighting, but I would only hinder you there. I think I would do best at throwing senbon needles from a distance while you two fight the close and middle range." Sakura was the first one to take the word and she went right on the chase, not beating around the bush.

Naruto was the next one to talk "Yeah yeah, I am getting better too, believe it! I can also do what Sakura said, but I trained more on my fighting, so I am faster and stronger!" He says with a big grin, and it was true that Naruto hadn't learned much new stuff. On the other hand, he wasn't shouting or itching to run right straight into the fight, which was one of the many things that made Sasuke surprised. Naruto was a bit calmer, but he wasn't all changed. The boy was still wearing his yellow attire and you could feel that he had a hard time holding back.

"hn" was all the got from Sasuke for a couple of seconds. "Sakura, you go hide over there and can you flare your chakra when I give you the signal? To attracted them, before you hid up in the tree there. You can jump that far, right?" Sakura nodded, confirming that she understood what he said and that she could do it. Sasuke showed her the signal and the Pinkett had to hold back a smile at how serious Sasuke-kun was, but most of all she felt a warmness spreading inside of herself. The boy in front of her gave her a part in his plan, he acknowledges her presence. "Go" he said before turning to the blond boy "Naruto, we will go and hid just a bit further from the tree Sakura is going to. You will need to make some shadow clones and place them there" he pointed to the left side of where Sakura was positioning herself. "and there" now he pointed to the right. "We will need to split them up, I will take on Kakashi and you can take the other on." Naruto nodded "What about Sakura, she doesn't know the rest of the plan?" The blond question after thinking for some seconds. Sasuke shrugged "If she is as smart as she as she says Sakura will catch onto the plan" Naruto nodded at this, Sakura-chan was smart so she would understand. "I will start here and then use my fireball jutsu to split them, go!"

Soon they where each placed where they should. The Uchiha looked over once again, he couldn't see anyone from his team and he could sense Naruto, but Sakura had masked her chakra, so it was as faint as a civil child. He smirked before he gave the signal, maybe his team was better then he thought in the first place? Sakura flared her chakra before jumping into the tree as fast as she could. Looking down she saw no one, but she knew that it was a matter of seconds before everyone went into action. It was a tense moment as team 7 waited for their opponents, they all held their breath hoping that their timing was intact.

Sakura had a good view from the tree she was in, and she knew she would be hard to spot. The girl couldn't see her team, but she could sense Naruto. Sasuke, on the other hand, took her some time to place, but she pinpointed him with logic most of all. As soon as she had spotted him she heard and saw Naruto jumping into action. He had a series of clones attacking both Kakashi-sensei and Aoba, trying to split them up. No sooner she saw a fireball flying towards all the Naruto and their enemy, this took most of the clones Naruto had made. Sakura smirked from her tree when they managed to split Kakashi and Aoba from each other.

Sakura viewed the scene from the tree trying to come up with what she could do, she could try and help Naruto with Aoba or help Sasuke with Kakashi-sensei. Frowning she looked at both fights trying to come up with who she should help, but both where struggling equally. Naruto was doing his best, but he was surrounded by crows and occasionally Aoba hit Naruto himself. Sasuke, on the other hand, was engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with Kakashi-sensei. At first look, you would think that Sasuke was doing well enough, but if one evaluated the fight you would notice that Kakashi-sensei wasn't even trying. "Maybe I should jump around and throw some senbon needle, aiming at both?" Sakura questioned herself in a low voice. Thinking out loud was never a good thing, but it helped her to think faster. Concluding that it was the best she could do now she started to leap from the tree too, aiming at the older men. This truly helped both of her teammates, Sakura didn't have the speed nor the aim to give her teammates anything, but a few seconds opening here and there. This was enough to give both boys some room to breathe and think. Sakura continued with the rain of senbon needles, but her rain was short lived. Soon it was Sakura who was dodging kunais and crows, she was mostly concerned with the crows scratching her up and blocking the view.

Closing her eyes for a few seconds trying to calm herself down was hard enough, but she got just enough seconds to clear her mind a bit. She could stand her ground to a few crows, but her teammates were her main concern. Before she opened her eyes, she felt a sharp pain in her left arm. One of Kakashi's kunai had graced her skin, barely missing her arm. Emerald eyes snapped opened and she started to leap around again, emerald eyes snapped opened and she started to leap around again, dodging to the best of her ability.

What could she do? Was the only thought she had in her mind. Could she really do anything at all? She saw Naruto was panting already, and Sasuke was slowly starting to lose his speed. What can I do other than cry and be useless? Wait a bit, maybe? Her thoughts went at high speed, she was frowning as she tried to decide if it would work. It was a big risk, but it might just work against their opponents right now. She knew that Naruto had at least gotten one good hit on Aoba and Sasuke had gotten two. They could do it if she got at least one hit on Kakashi or Aoba before team seven had to retreat and evaluate.

The plan was almost too simple, but she learned that simple things were just as good as any plan. Biting her bottom lip, she jumped over to the next tree, the only thing that happened was that she missed the branch by a mere centimeter. Her body floated, and she felt like everything was in slow motion. She let out a shrike drawing the attention of all four shinobis, stopping the fight momentarily. The young girl managed to read the surprised look on all four, which was a bit amusing to her before she remembered that she was falling. Everything from there happened in mere seconds, both Sasuke and Naruto turned their back on their opponents and started to run as fast as they could. Both boys tried to get to her and catch Sakura before she could hit the ground, Aoba saw the flicker beside him and stood absolutely still. Kakashi was the one that surprised everyone as he was the one who flickered at an immense speed over to Sakura, catching her before anyone had a chance to blink. Sakura had to hold back the smirk she felt growing, but she was as surprised as the boys on her team. Her green eyes meet her sensei's lone eye and finally, she saw the one thing she had looked for so long. What she saw was a hint of worry and she saw that he cared about her just as much as he cared about the boys, she wasn't left out anymore.

Drawing her breath, the young girl smiled sweetly, things went almost just as planned. Even if it was Kakashi who had caught her, not Aoba, Sakura was happy and determent to do her best. Sakura took her best shot and threw her arm aiming a punch towards her sensei. The punch was made to look like she was throwing her arm around Kakashi, but of course, she was aiming to hit one of the many weak points she learned a human body had. For what felt like the first time in her life she was successful, but Sakura had learned over the past days that she could do whatever she set her mind to. Her arm connected with Kakashi, making the man before she drops her and jumps back. Sasuke who had seen the attack come took the chance as Kakashi was busy with a Sakura springing fast at him. Sasuke landed another good hit on the older man making the score:

Sakura: 1

Naruto: 1

Sasuke: 3

Only a few more hits, this didn't look too bad. Sakura smiled in triumph, but this was short lived. The Pinkett didn't have time to dodge a certain raven-haired boy who came flying through the air, soon both hit one of the many trees with a thud. Sakura coughed trying to start breathing again, but at least she had made the fall soft for Sasuke-kun. Blinking she rose up again locking eyes with Sasuke "We need to come up with a plan so that me and Naruto can get our remaining…" She didn't have time to finish the sentence as she dogged one of Kakashi's kunais splitting her and Sasuke by a few meters. Sasuke had understood what she meant and gave her a nod before he ran towards Kakashi.

Sakura had to frown, was she supposed to come up with something? Oh for kami's sake, she knew she could do it. Her eyes scanned the place they were fighting, cramped with a lot of the forest ground full of vegetation and trees all over the place. Her eyes then drifted back to the fight that had re-started, it went on pretty much like before. Naruto was back fighting the crows and Aoba while Kakashi was fighting a bit harder against Sasuke, but the silver-haired man hadn't activated his sharingan yet. So, if Naruto and Sakura took on one of their teachers then they could get in hit faster and Sakura and Naruto's teamwork was the best even if Sasuke and Naruto had a natural teamwork.

Nodding to herself she went straight to Naruto with a kunai in her hand, she was almost out of Senbo needles anyway. As she fought her way into Naruto she couldn't help but smile when he smiled at her. "Hey, Sakura-chan! You scared me back there you know dattebayo!" he managed to say as both dodge and attacked the crows. She let out a small laughter "As if I would miss a leap" she said as her eyes were scanning for Aoba. The man was standing further away looking like he was leaning against a tree. "I have an idea" Sakura said as one of the crows she had attacked puffed away. "I have some explosions tags with me, if I can set it off you could sneak up on him and maybe get a hit or two" she said in a quiet voice "But you need to make some shadow clones fight in here until the explosion goes off" she keeps her eyes on the crows swarming around them. She could feel Naruto makes some clones, so she made the hand sign and body swapped with a log up in the trees after she placed the seals on the Naruto clones. She made sure Naruto was out of the way before she infused the chakra needed to set off the explosions. The explosion was enough to make Sasuke and Kakashi leap back into the trees and clear away almost every single crow Aoba had made. What made Sakura smile more was how Aoba let his mouth hanging in utter surprise giving Naruto a chance to get in two good hits with the help of more of his shadow clones and Sakura didn't stand idly waiting for her turn, oh no, she was already jumping into the fight giving punches and kicks to Aoba. She and Naruto were working almost like one person, with Sakura adapting to Naruto's ever-changing pattern of attack and Naruto helping Sakura.

Of course, they were having a hard time keeping up with Aoba's movement, but they could counter much faster and if he gave a single opening either of them would be there. Their teamwork was so good that Sakura even managed to get another hit and she hoped Sasuke was done with his hit or at least had gotten another hit at their sensei. Because the sooner he was done they could work altogether to get the last hits.

The flow Naruto and Sakura had was slowing down faster than Sakura would like to admit, and she was the one to blame. Her stamina had greatly increased, but it took much to keep up with a tokubetsu jōnin and her teammate never-ending stamina. Before she knew any of it she was sent flying from a kick to the gut. Her back connected with a tree before she fell to the ground. This time she was tempted to just give up, what was the point in fighting really? She started to feel useless, and her own insecurity took hold of her own mind. Digging her nails into her skin Sakura shook her head as she slowly rose from the ground. She remembered that she had already gotten two good hits, she had to keep going.

Giving her best smile to Naruto and Sasuke she was once again running into action. This time she didn't get even a tiny opening as she tried to send kicks, punches and everything she could at Aoba. The main reason was her sluggish movement and her aching back. Luckily for all three genins, the second handicap was about to start. No sooner than 20 minutes into the fight Kakashi nodded to Aoba before they both took their left hand on their back. And as soon as Kakashi had done it Sasuke got one more hit to their sensei's left side. The score was now set to:

Naruto: 3

Sakura: 2

Sasuke: 4

They were getting closer and closer to actually make it. Sakura knew that both Kakashi and Aoba was going easy on them, but it still made her proud that she had managed two hits. As her mind kept distracting her she felt Aoba's ¨punch connect with her chin, but she ignored the pain and threw a punch at his left side. Aoba jumped back, but he had to duck as Naruto was following up on Sakura's attack. The blond landed another hit-making Sakura jump into action trying her very best to get on of her kicks to connect with his left side. This time it did connect, but that was because Sasuke had flanked to their side and both him and Naruto had made sure poor Aoba couldn't escape. "Only two more Sakura-chan!" she could hear Naruto say before they had to dogged Kakashi-sensei. "Dobe, make more clones and keep either Kakashi-sensei or Aoba-san busy" Sasuke said to her left side.

Sakura took a deep breath trying to focus and ignore the pain she felt all over her body. She was so close, but once again she was moving to slow and panting too hard. The young girl knew that she had to make those two last hits fast or else she would never make them. Her eyes landed on Sasuke-kun's back he had given her a knowing look and she understood his plan. It was pretty much the same she had with Naruto, match me and I will give you an opening. Biting her bottom-lip she had nodded as Sasuke had engaged with Aoba. Sasuke was fast and is sharingan could read most of the moves Aoba would make. The increase in speed made Sakura frown, but she didn't want to give up, so she watched them closely. She could see a pattern forming in her mind and after a few minutes, she could almost predict their movements. Waiting for the right moment she watched them before she jumped into the fight, and as her timing was carefully calculated she mad yet another hit. This was a sloppy move, but her teammate made up for it by making sure her fist would connect. She saw Aoba smiling slightly before the man jumped up into the air dodging the next attacked Sakura had tried on.

She looked at Sasuke and mouthed 'the last attack' and he nodded, Sakura drew out her remaining strength and did her best to her punch to where Aoba jumped towards after he had dogged Sasuke-kun. Sakura eyes widened visibly when it connected with her teacher Aoba, she had been so sure that it would miss, but maybe she had been faster or maybe she was just lucky. As soon as she had gotten an approving nod from Aoba she sank to the ground. She smiled before exhausted took over her very being and she fainted. One may think that you wouldn't be that tired after only one-hour fighting, but then you would forget that Sakura truly had given everything she could to keep up with her teammates.


	7. AN This is not a chapter

So this is just a tiny not here, I am not done with the story and I am back to write more. I just wanted you guys to know and hopefully there will come some chapters in the next few weeks!

I have done a few minor changes:

1\. Shikamaru is going to be one of the important people in the story!

2\. Sakura and the team gets 1 more week of training before the exam

As I am posting this I have already started with the next chapter :)

So, sorry for the delay, but I will try to write a lot this and the next week!


	8. Chapter 6 - Seeing something that's new

/Surprise, I am still alive, so here is a new chapter for you guys. I know, as per usual I am late at updates. Really late, but I was lost on the road of life.

Ah, anyway here is the chapter hope you enjoy. Oh and Shikamaru might act a bit ooc, but oh well. Also, Sakura and Shikamaru is going to develop a friendship before anything else/

 **Ch. 6**

Sakura woke up later that day in her bed feeling warm and fuzzy snuggling in the sheets of her own bed. Unknown to her it wasn't her bed and there where quite a few people around her looking just a bit worried. She could hear the mumbling and opened her eyes to an all to white ceiling, she blinked once then twice before she remembered everything that had happened and cursed herself. _Once again, I am weak and manage to faint, during a training fight_ She couldn't help but feel a bit defeated as the thought passed her. Slowly she looked around the room, she was in the hospital and in her room was Naruto and Sasuke bickering over something dumb, Kakashi-sensei was reading his book while enduring Aoba-san's harsh glare and luckily, she didn't spot her parents.

Bracing herself for their disappointed looks she rose up to a sitting position gaining the attention of the whole room. "SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto was, of course, the first to break the tiny silence that had come over the room as soon she moved. The blond jumped at her side and gave her a hug and telling her how great she had been and asking her if everything was alright with her. Sasuke just stood there, but he didn't look as annoyed as he used to be. Kakashi gave the girl a small eye smile and Aoba told Naruto to give her some space.

"I.." she was somewhat lost for words, there they all more or less smiled at her (Except Sasuke of course). "I am fine, but what happened?" she had to ask just to make sure. "Ah, Sakura-san, you fainted for overworking yourself without a proper meal" Aoba answered his in a rather matter of fact tone giving her a look over, she could tell that he was disappointed in her eating habit and now she finally understood why it was so important to eat good meals.

"Anyway, I am giving you the weekend off to study and relax. Kakashi-san and I have a training schedule to discuss, so if you will excuse us" the man said and ruffled Sakura's hair before he dragged their sensei out of the room. Sakura who was still in somewhat of a haze only blinked after them.

Her eyes then trailed over to her team, Naruto was still beaming at her and Sasuke was studying her. His eyes locked with hers and she felt a tiny blush creep up her face. "I think…" Sasuke started slowly as if he was hesitant to speak "that you to both might not be as bad as you started" he draws his breath and continued on before Naruto could say something. "And I believe it would benefit me to work a bit more as a team" His eyes are looking hard on the ceiling. Sakura smiled at him and even Naruto smiled before ruining the moment "Of course Teme, we are awesome, with Sakura-chan's quick thinking and all my awesome powers we can help you do whatever you want to!"

Sakura could almost feel at home, and maybe, just maybe this wasn't a bad team, maybe they could become a good team. Even Sasuke believed a bit in all of them, so maybe she should believe in herself now. "Yeah, I think we can be a great team, I promise, I won't let you both down" she felt tears trying to sneak out, but she suppressed them and smiled instead. "Maybe we should have dinner together today?" her voice was hopeful, now more than ever.

And to her delight, Naruto beamed and gave a thumb up and Sasuke nodded with a "hn". She really couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy, and she was sure nothing could bring her mood down.

And after a few moments getting out of bed and signing all the papers she was out in the fresh air heading to one of the many restaurants. It had been decided that they needed proper food, so ramen was out of the question and Sakura also knew that just dango wouldn't do. Luckily, they found something and got a both for themselves.

Sakura had ended up sitting beside Naruto because he had taken that seat faster than one could blink. They all ordered their meat and vegetables and soon they started to girl them all in peace. If you could call the small bickering between Naruto and Sasuke peace, but somehow that was just how it was supposed to be with them, at least in Sakura's eyes. At one point she had snorted at something that was said between her teammates and they, in turn, looked at her weirdly but shook it off.

Luck was on the other hand not something they had much of and soon the peace between them broke from a high pitched "Sasuke-kun!" and all eyes turned to a blond girl who was dragging her teammates in. Everyone sighed, but before anyone could say anything to protest team 10 was at their table. Ino pressed herself down beside Sasuke, Chōji sat down beside Sasuke and smiled apologizing to them and Shikamaru dumped down beside Sakura shaking his head. Everyone knew that it was impossible to convince Ino into anything else.

Sakura gritted her teeth, but she smiled as sweetly as ever. "Ah, Ino, I didn't know you were still around. I see you are still chasing a fantasy" Sakura herself had after all slowly come to the term that Sasuke wouldn't accept anyone's feeling until his goal was reached, she also had been taking with Aoba. The man was rather wise, and he had told Sakura to drop the crush and start to think of Sasuke as a teammate. At first, she thought it was stupid and that her love for Sasuke was great, but the week away from him had given her a goal. It had given her something she wanted herself and now she still liked Sasuke, but she knew better than to chase him and waste energy on that. After all, she needed to be strong and thinking of Sasuke or any boy had not made her strong. She needed to focus on herself before she could think of other people.

"Oh, I didn't know you were here billboard" Ino shrugged it off and continued with seducing Sasuke or at least try. Sakura just shook her head, she could still feel her heartache at wanting more, but she pushed away that and instead looked at Shikamaru. She gave the boy a smile "Ne, Shikamaru-san, are your team nominated?" she was after all curious if their team was the only one and who else was going to take the exam. Said boy looked at her and nodded "It's such a drag because Asuma-sensei is putting us through hell with training" Sakura snickered and looked at Naruto and Chōji who were eating and chatting them amongst and she smiled fondly. Maybe, just maybe she could hang out with people more often, but who she didn't know.

Her emerald eyes turned over to the lazy boy and nodded "Well, at least you get to train and be prepared..." She lowered her voice so only he could hear her "I had to find another teacher you know" her smile was small, but she could see that Shikamaru saw through it. They may not have talked much during the academy, but she had wanted to. He was smart after all, and when she didn't understand a thing or wanted to learn more, she wished she could have talked to him. "Mmh, such a drag, I think the luckiest team is team 8" he answered her before putting some meat in his mouth. "She is rather kind, and don't push her team that much, just about enough"

Sakura was a bit shocked, she still couldn't believe she was speaking with Shikamaru, but she found out that she enjoyed it. He was relaxed and straightforward and it looked like she didn't bother him that much, even if he complained about both Naruto riling up Chōji and Ino's high pitched voice giving him a headache.

Soon they were done eating though and everyone started to separate to get to their homes, at first Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru went the same way and Chōji, Sasuke and Ino was going in somewhat the same way. Before she knew it, however, she and Shikamaru was walking together alone chatting idly about their team.

Shikamaru was far from blind, Sakura had changed a lot from the blind fangirl to a more pleasant girl. She seemed more grownup and a lot less annoying that almost every other girl her age. She wasn't loud like Naruto, nor did she have a stick up her ass like Sasuke and she definitely hadn't that high-pitched voice Ino had, no Sakura had turned out to be a rather pleasant girl. So when they were nearing their end of the road splitting them up he did something unexpected. Later he would blame it on his curiosity for this new Sakura and only that.

"Ne, Sakura, I was wondering if you would go star watching with me?" Shikamaru asks in an uninterested voice looking ahead in case she tried to read into it to much. "eh.." Sakura was surprised and looked at the boy beside her, she had hoped to get a chance to talk a bit more with him. She had hoped to ask him if he could help her with tactics. "Mmh, sure Shikamaru-san, but I would like to ask you… If you don't mind me asking, that is… Would you, maybe, help me get ready with some tactic and training?" she asked holding her breath and when he just looked at her surprise written all over his face she continued a bit fanatical. "I know your not a fan of training and stuff, but I know your good, or actually a genius" she stumbled a bit in her own words, she was after all asking something big of him and they weren't even friends. "Bu-but I need to get stronger to protect those around me, and help my team, so if it's not too much to ask for…" she was at this point looking at her feet and fiddling with the hems on her sleeves. She was trying to distract herself from her own stupidity and therefore she never noticed the tiny smile Shikamaru gain.

"Sure, if you watch the stars with me, I might have a few hours without it being too much of a drag" He said slowly scratching his head. He could turn down most people, but the way she was standing stiff and the way her eyes reflected things she didn't want others to see, fear, he couldn't turn her down. No, he couldn't turn down people that truly needed his help, even if it was boring or a drag.

Sakura's eyes shoot up to the boy before her, the way he scratched his head awkwardly and the way he no longer looked at her made her blink before a heat rose to her chin from embarrassment. She had felt her tears trying to press forward, but once again she could push them down and before she knew it she gave him a hug as she realized what he said. "Thank you, it means a lot to me!" Realizing once more what she had done she scratched her chin "And yeah, of course, stargazing! Right this way, or maybe you know a spot?" she tried to calm a beating heart that tried to jump out of her chest and turned away from him.

Shikamaru was shocked once more, was this really Sakura? He never remembered her so friendly towards anyone except for Sasuke and maybe Ino before those two became rivals. He looked at her back feeling a light tingling and some red creep up to his own chin, he never expected the hug from her. "Mmh, troublesome, I know a spot in the Nara forest?" he waited for her approval and when she slowly turned towards him with a nod he started to walk.

All the way over to the spot Shikamaru knew went in silence except for maybe a few words exchanged between them. Luckily it was a comfortable one, not at first but it didn't take long before the embarrassment was pushed out of both teens head. It didn't take long for them to arrive, just about 20 minutes, and Sakura found the please lovely.

"So, let me guess, this is where you escape when Ino is being too annoying or someone is nagging you?" she smirked at him and he just gave a shrug and a nod. "Yeah, it's quiet and sometimes even the deer come past" he added and laid down in the tall grass looking up at the clear sky. "It's relaxing," he said and clapped beside him. Sakura didn't answer as she just laid down beside him.

True to Shikamaru's word, it was relaxing and maybe just what she needed. She couldn't remember the last time she had relaxed, maybe before the wave mission? Shaking out that though she looked at the stars above them and felt a small smile spread on her face. "Thank you Shikamaru" she whispered before the silence enveloped around them and both teens drifted away into a comfortable sleep out in the open. The last thought on both teens mind was _'maybe being with him/her isn't the worst idea ever, maybe we could be friends?'_ And later that night they were found by two teachers who had been called by some worried parents since their children never came home.

"Ha, never knew they would fall asleep here and what surprise me more, together" the one with brown hair commented taking a sip for a cigar he had lighted. The silver-haired man hummed in agreement. "She has grown you know, maybe this can benefit them both" he said with a knowing look. "Ah well, better get them to their houses" And soon both Shikamaru and Sakura was whisked away and lulled into their own beds still fast asleep and both had a smile on their face indicating a good dream.


	9. Chapter 7 - It's here, the first exam

**Ch. 7**

The next day Sakura was happy to note that it was not a dream as she meets up with Shikamaru for lunch so they could make plans timing it with each other. It wasn't the only positive thing she had woken up to, she had received her training plan for the week and she found out that she was going a bit up from the basic, a lot more team training and of course a long list of books she needed to read. She giggled to herself as she was walking to the place where she was meeting Shikamaru.

Her eyes almost glittered with excitement as she started to imagine herself as a strong independent ninja, maybe she even could become as strong as Tsunade Senju, the sanin, one could at least dream. A hand in front of her face woke her up from the daydream "Sakura, you there?" a voice she recognized as Shikamaru. Blinking a few times, she nodded slowly "Yeah, just thinking" she could feel her chin heats a tiny bit from embarrassment wondering how long he had been there. "Whatever let's get this done, I have team training in two hours, and I was hoping for a nap before that" He sounded like he just had woken up, but Sakura decided to ignore that.

"Ah yeah, we just need to check when both of us are free from training, I am free tomorrow at the evening, Wednesday morning, and Thursday after around 16.00 clock" He nods slowly and concludes that they could meet on Wednesday and Thursday before looking at the clock. "I have to go now, but see you around Sakura" She could feel herself smile and nod before walking towards the library, she had already done her routine training in the morning and this was her study day and a relaxing day before it all went to hell. She felt a new smile bloom, the next days would be hell and the old her would probably give up or even cry, but here she was. She finally felt like she wasn't just a shell following others, she was herself.

When she sees the library she skips inside to start her study, first she starts to read up on chakra control and a few jutsu she had access to as a genin. At the end of the day she had read all the books which she was assigned to read and some more. Looking at the clock she realized that she still needed to train some more before the day ended and she was going to start with all the basic jutsu she knew. Thanks to her perfect memory she got every single one of them on her first try. Then she moved on to what she had learned from Aboa-san, carefully calculating all the jutsu so she could get the most out of everything even against people with flashy jutsus. She even starts to learn one she read in a book, I may just have been mention and was kind of not for genin, but she needed at least one thing that she was pretty sure no one else had or at least not the way she would use it.

The technique was pretty simple, the body flicker jutsu, she had read about one ninja who utilized it as his main technique, and she thought that was quite smart. In fact, she was trying to do the same, and since she had trained speed the most and chakra control how hard could it be? Well, it turned out to be quite the challenge, but it was all about control and Sakura knew she had the most control in her team, heck, she probably had the most control out of her whole class if what her new sensei had said was true. It didn't help her mood though, because she just couldn't figure out the key to the jutsu. And after another failure in the river she gave up for the day, she had pondered on the body flicker for quite some time already and she knew which signs to use, but she never seems to get the distance right, nor how to stop it.

Shivering slightly the girl dragged herself home fuming over her failures, she was maybe a bit too used to get one too many jutsus right straight away, but that didn't help her now. Sakura wasn't used to this meeting with a wall she couldn't climb nor destroy as fast as she liked and she wasn't up for asking for help, _not yet_ she told herself. Maybe a hot and nice shower, a good meal and a great night of sleep would help her with this little challenge. This is exactly what little Sakura did when she got home and before she knew it the week was over, and she was standing outside the academy ready to take the written examination.

Thinking back she couldn't believe she survived the week. It had been a literal hell, she had gotten her ass beaten by Sasuke and Naruto one too many times and just a few victories against Naruto and a half victory against Sasuke. She had improved so greatly and had studied so hard that for once in her life she felt good with herself as she walks towards her team. _Yes, it was her team and despite all her flaws and theirs, they were a team_. Smiling brightly she closed the distance between them "ready to ace this test?" she questioned and looked over them. Naruto gave her a thumbs up and Sasuke gave a short nod. Naruto had changed a bit too, he still had a lot of orange in his outfit, but not as much, now he had black colors blending in. One other thing was that Naruto wasn't as loud, he still had his monstrous stamina and energy, but he was calmer as he knew that his team acknowledged him. Now Naruto knew that it wasn't always smart to yell at everyone and gaining their attention. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked just the same, but he seemed happier and more accepting of having a team. Slowly. But surely the stick that was stuck in his ass was going away around his team. Sakura couldn't help. But to give them a crushing hug before turning serious. "Remember, we lay low, no fighting or yelling, we are a 'weak' team" she looked a tiny bit longer at Naruto who nodded eagerly repeating her words. Satisfied she walked towards the door swallowing and drawing a deep breath, even if she was confident in her abilities, she knew that most genin took this at least one year after they graduated. Shaking her head she opened the door.

Inside was no one and she knew they all supposed to go to the 3rd floor. Walking up the stairs she could hear commotions coming from the next floor frowning slightly she felt the shift in her chakra and knew a small genjutsu was placed on the 2nd floor. Looking at Sasuke she saw that he had noticed too, but as she looked over Naruto she saw that he was oblivious to this. Looking at the blond she leaned over at whispered one-word "Illusion" his eyes widen before he dispelled it and nodded. Looking over at the group of people she saw a team of older genin being pushed and denied access, frowning slightly she saw that the team on the ground was from Konoha. She ignored it and started to walk towards the next stair trying to avoid being seen and luckily for her and her team, it worked perfectly with all the commotion. Looking back she saw that the team that was being pushed looked at her team and she felt chills run up her back before she turned and hurried up the stairs.

Before they could walk in the door Kakashi-sensei arrived in a _puff_ of smoke before them. He was holding his book, but for once in his life, he wasn't reading it. "Ah, great, you all came" he gave them his usual smile. "So, I don't have much to say other than, good luck and try to make it all the way" all the could do was nod before he disappeared again leaving them to giggle at his awkwardness. "Ne, let's get inside!" Naruto was the first to break the silence dragging both insides, a bit too much excited.

What met them inside was a very heavy atmosphere and glares, she started to drag her team away from the spotlight, but the kami was not in a good mood. So instead of just melting into the shadow's unseen came a shrieking Ino. "Sasuke-kun! I was wondering when I got to see you again, I missed you so much!" the blond girl was clinging to Sasuke a bit too much and drawing all eyes on them. Sakura sigh "Ino-pig I would prefer if you didn't cling on Sasuke and be a bit more quite you are drawing unwanted attention" she frowned at the girl before she started to walk, intending of finding somewhere to sit. "Ah, billboard brow, jealous of my beauty? Scared that Sasuke-kun will fall for me?" the blond's voice was all too sweet. Sakura just shook her head "Nah, you can have him.." Sakura saw the small glint of horror in Sasukes eyes "But he is my teammate and you're making him uncomfortable." She was looking straight at her ex-friend with a stern look telling her to back off. "Mph you just want him for yourself" she concluded still clinging to Sasuke. "Troublesome" came a voice from behind Sakura and with a smile, she turned towards the lazy genius "Shikamaru-san!" Sakura smiled brightly at the boy and he yawned in return and nodded to her in return. She looked at him "let me guess, you had to wake up about 15 minutes earlier from what you wanted and you have to deal with her" she pointed at Ino ignoring the surprised look from everyone in the group expect of Shikamaru of course. The boy on the other hand just nodded "Had to help mother with something". Before anyone could say anything more one other team came over, team 8. Kiba was loud as ever trying to rill up Naruto, who was by some miracle keeping is calm. Hinata was shyly looking at Naruto, somewhat creepy, but Sakura remembered that Hinata was just extremely shy. Shion on the other hand just stood there doing nothing but observing the people.

Shaking her head, she looked back at Shikamaru "All this noise is going to get us killed" she could feel all eyes on her group, and it was nothing, but glares. The boy nodded before tensing slightly, just enough for Sakura to catch a glimpse of it. As she was about to ask a boy with silver hair in a short ponytail and glasses came over, he seemed nice and he even smiled. Sakura frowned, and only by looking at Shikamaru she knew that her frown was somewhat right. "Hey, I just wanted to give you a heads up that you should quite down..." he sounded somewhat timid and careful, but at the same time not. If it hadn't been for Shikamaru she would believe him, but there was something about his all to nice demur that seemed false. "Most people here are experienced genin and everything is quite tens, and I am guessing that you all are the fresh out of the academy, the rookie nine?" everyone in the group nodded slowly. "Who are you?" Kiba asked quite loudly pointing at him accusingly. "Oh, I am Kabuto, nice to meet you all!" he said with a smile setting most of the genin at ease, after all he seemed nice and was from leaf. "You sound like you have experience from the exam, is it your second time?" Shikamaru inquired with is usual lazy look trying to play along with the rest. What came next shocked everyone "No, this is my 5th time taking it" the boy said scratching his head before adding on "I always fail the last part, but luckily I have this info cards to help me and my team" He then proceeds to show them a bunch of blank cards looking rather plain and without any type of information. Sakura blinked and wondered if he perhaps just was a bit screwed in the head and that was the reason for her suspicion, but before she could ask about anything he started to explain. "The cards are blank so that the enemy can't use them against me nor leaf, they can only be activated when I pour chakra into them…" He took one card and put it down on the ground pouring some chakra into it. "like this" Suddenly the card was a map with numbers from different villages. "This is how many people we are in the exam from the different countries" he looked at them slowly as if he tried to read them and Sakura smiled trying her best to play dumb "Do you have info on the ninja's too?" she had big eyes and tried to hide a smirk when it looked like he took the bait. "Well, of course, I have some info on every ninja in the room, someone you would like to know about" Her green eyes swept over the room before she looked back to Kabuto scratching her cheek "Ano, do you have cards on my team, I would like to know how much people know about us.." the sentence got lower in voice before she added on "After all we are fresh out of the academy and already have a disadvantage in experience and yeah" He looked a bit shocked at her request before nodding and drawing the cards from his deck with a dramatic flair.

"Here!" "Sasuke Uchiha, team 7 with Kakashi Hatake as the team leader and Naruto Uzumaki with Sakura Haruno as teammates. He has completed 14 D-ranks, 1 C-rank, 1 A-rank mission. He is proficient in ninjutsu and taijutsu as well as some genjutsu. His ninjutsu is his best skill, but his taijutsu is above average as well. Sasuke also has unlocked the sharingan."

"Naruto Uzumaki, same team and the same amount of missions. He has improved in taijutsu and his ninjutsu, but his genjutsu is below average. Known ninjutsu used is the shadow clone jutsu."

Lastly was Sakura and she held her breath because she wondered if he knew anything about her skills really "And lastly, it's you Sakura Haruno, team 7 and the same amount of missions as the two others. A genjutsu type, below average in taijutsu and average ninjutsu. She is known to be a paper ninja" he ended, and Sakura was unsure on how to react. Luckily for the girl, their protector came with a bunch of Chunins Sakura guessed.

The exam was starting, and she could feel that she was a bit nervous, but she swallowed it and concentrated on the test. A written exam was simple for her, but she knew that Naruto was going to have a harder time even with everything they had gone through. Sasuke would be fine with this exam too, he was after all top student. Looking at the man, their protector of the exam named Ibiki. He was a big man with quite an intimidating look, his eyes where sharp piercing through every single one of them. Even his face was scarred and gave off a creepy vibe. Slowly everyone got a number and a place with the same number. The rules where unannounced with some outburst from the rookie nine except team seven. She could see that Naruto was holding himself back from bursting out with something stupid, but he made it.

Sakura looked down at the paper and a big frown were on her face just seconds into reading this. Thinking over the problems she concluded that she was probably one of few that could answer this. Thinking for a few minutes she concluded that it almost felt like they were invited to cheat. Drawing a breath her eyes looked over carefully over the people around her, she spotted Ino not far from her and saw the smirk on the blond's face. Knowing that Ino was nowhere near her bookworm and pretty much perfect memory Sakura concluded that her ex-friend would cheat using herself or someone else. Sighing slightly she started to write down every answer wrong and once she was done she put down her pencil and relaxed in her seat. " _Cha, if Ino-pig thinks she can fool us, well she is wrong!"_ Sakura almost jumped out of her seat as her inner yelled inside her head " _And here I thought you were gone..."_ she thought to herself and the answer she got almost made her laugh. " _Nah, you just did such a great job yourself in becoming a bad-ass ninja yourself, but you do know I get kick Ino-pig out of our head? After all, I am awesome!"_ One might think Sakura was crazy if they heard about this, but to Sakura, this was something normal and she had slowly started to like talking with her inner. It helped with everything she had gone through, she could more or less shove the worst things onto inner and cope that way.

Feeling a familiar presence entering her mind and she smirked for herself relaxing back in her mind seen everything and snickering at the very simple trick. As soon as she felt Ino leave and she had control of her own body again she discreetly wrote all the right answerers a bit to sure of herself when it came to this. Soon it was all over, and the last question came, she looked at Naruto av Sasuke who both nodded and once again they remained silent. Team 7 was determined and ready for it she was sure Naruto could handle himself and if not, she and Sasuke would pull him up. Many teams didn't feel the same she could tell and one by one they left, and she felt herself biting her bottom lip feeling more and more nervous. And long before they were left with maybe half of what they started with, but now no one bugged everyone started at Ibiki. He looked sharply at everyone and two more teams walked away, letting another five minutes past he cleared his throat. "Anyone else wants to leave?" when everyone shook their head the man smiled "Mah, you guys passed then..." and he went on about how it was a risk being a ninja and more about being a chunin.

 _Bamh!_ Someone broke through the windows staring at them with a big hungry smile and sinister eyes scolding Ibiki for letting too many passes but reassured that they would be cut to half at least when she was done with them. Calling her self Anko Sakura wondered if every jonin developed some crazy personality quirk. "Oi, listen up kids, we start tomorrow, you get place and time from your squad leader. Don't be late and have some fun while you still can!" and in a puff of smoke, she disappeared dramatically leaving a heavy silence behind. Sakura was the first to stand up and went over to Naruto and dragging both him and Sasuke out before someone could stop them. She wanted to get over with getting the info from Kakashi-sensei so she could find Aoba-san and tell him the good news. It didn't take long to find Kakashi and Sakura was quite happy for that because Naruto kept talking and talking about how awesome they were for passing and how he knew they would ace through the next test. To make it short he didn't stop talking and it was getting on Sakura's nerves, to put it mildly.

"Kakashi-sensei! We passed, can we get the information?" she ran ahead of her team towards the silver head, he nodded "congratulations are in place then, great job, but why in such a hurry?" he questioned the rosette giving them the usual lazy smile. "mmh, nothing, just want to prepare" the lie cam easily from her mouth, and it was mostly true anyway. "It's at training ground 44 and the time is 10 am in the morning" he was about to say something else but the pinked disappeared in a flash running towards the town again. Kakashi scratched his chin before looking at the boys "Want to eat, my treat?" he questioned somewhat awkward.

Sakura, on the other hand, was running to the place she almost felt like her second home, the library. There she saw him waiting with a gin on his face and she felt her grin grow herself "Aoba-san! I passed the first part!" she yelled before stopping right in front of the older man who in return patted her head "Ah, knew you could do it Sakura-chan" he looked at her before hinting that they should go somewhere to sit. She nodded and they left for a café where she told him everything and he nodded "Well I am guessing it's going to be survival next then, I prepared a little gift for you" He dragged out something that looked like a medic set and a book on plants for her to bring with her. "Oh, and here are some easy paralyze poison to use as last resort, one is in gas form…" he showed her a tiny ball "it's enough to make most fall asleep in 5 minutes, alas the small gasmask here…" he pointed at the masks who looked something like what Kakashi would use in the dark blue color "This three vials are a bit more dangerous, got them from a friend of mine, they attack the nerves and render anyone without poison resistance helpless in 40 seconds, I also have the antidote for you. The poison lasts for about 1 hour and you can dip the senbon in. I added a belt so you can use the poison on the run" he finished speaking and scratched his chin looking at Sakura who was just staring at the man. "You… You did this for me?" she couldn't help but to hug the man and respiting "thank you" repeatedly. "I promise you that I will make it all the way, just you wait and see!" She declared once she was back in her seat. The rest of the evening was spent packing, chatting and preparing. Little did she know that she was in for something horrible and even worse that her 'hell training week', Sakura would always look back and curse herself for how little she was prepared, curses herself for neglecting her training until after the wave-mission, all in all, cursing her good belief in the world.


End file.
